Marking of articles is very important for security, anti-theft and anti-counterfeiting purposes. Particularly in reference jewellery articles, marking is paramount in this regard.
However, as articles of jewellery are typically articles of adornment, such jewellery articles should have markings which are relatively discrete and do not interfere with the aesthetic qualities and properties of a jewellery article and as such, the marking should be quite small and non-obtrusive.
Often, an article of jewellery formed from metallic materials such as gold, gold based alloys, precious metals and the like, marks for identification purposes, security purposes and anti-theft, anti-counterfeiting purposes and the like, are applied to the metallic body of the article of jewellery.
For integrity purposes, a marking must not be readily reproducible or readily removable, and must be configured so that when such a mark is read there is high confidence that it is indeed the original mark and hence identifies the correct article of jewellery.
Whilst serial numbers and unique designs/logos have been used over the years for identification purposes, and have been applied by various means such as engraving, etching or punching, these can often be readily replicated, these do not necessarily afford the level of security as required.
Furthermore, the application of such marks to jewellery articles can be time consuming and inconsistent, thus reducing confidence as to whether an article carrying such a mark is indeed the original article or if the mark is indeed original.